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on 2006/12/22 18:07:57
A BOLLYWOOD movie is creating a buzz on the film festival circuit as the first international movie filmed in post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Kabul Express, which stars hunky Bollywood actor John Abraham and comedian Arshad Warsi, has an international cast of American, Afghan and Pakistani actors.
It is about two Indian journalists who foolishly go in search of the Taliban, a militant group in Afghanistan, and opened at the Toronto and Dubai film festivals earlier this year.
The 1million ($3m) film was shot mostly in and around the Afghan capital, Kabul. The film's writer and director Kabir Khan told The Guardian: 'I was told by the Indian ambassador in Kabul that there was a five-man death squad sent by the Taliban. Everybody was pretty nervous.
'The Taliban wanted to send a message that you cannot have a normal life here. But the Afghan government really helped.
'They gave us 60 armed commandos and we used to roll around in 35 SUVs. In fact, we looked like a militia.'
Besides fearing for their lives, John fell seriously ill and had to be hospitalised in Mumbai after the shoot.
The last Indian movie filmed in Afghanistan was 1982's Khuda Gawah (God's Witness). Bollywood films have always been popular in Afghanistan.
But when the Taliban took over after the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, they shut down its movie theatres and turned some of them into mosques. Surprisingly, Kabul Express is only 1 1/4 hours long and has none of the Bollywood song-and-dance staples.
Kabir, who is a documentary film-maker, said: 'Mumbai studios are looking for new stories and new ways to tell them.
'You know Hindi cinema goes to New York or London but (the plot) is not concerned with issues relating to America or London.
'Instead the film is about Indians. (Kabul Express) is....about the Afghan people.'
But the Financial Express reported that the film, which was heavily hyped around the Indian subcontinent, opened to mixed reviews. Even some Western critics weren't exactly bowled over.
Variety magazine said: 'Treating the ongoing struggles in Afghanistan with crude indecision and larky silliness, Kabul Express at once lamely revives buddy road pictures and trivialises global politics.'
source:electric news paper
Kabul Express, which stars hunky Bollywood actor John Abraham and comedian Arshad Warsi, has an international cast of American, Afghan and Pakistani actors.
It is about two Indian journalists who foolishly go in search of the Taliban, a militant group in Afghanistan, and opened at the Toronto and Dubai film festivals earlier this year.
The 1million ($3m) film was shot mostly in and around the Afghan capital, Kabul. The film's writer and director Kabir Khan told The Guardian: 'I was told by the Indian ambassador in Kabul that there was a five-man death squad sent by the Taliban. Everybody was pretty nervous.
'The Taliban wanted to send a message that you cannot have a normal life here. But the Afghan government really helped.
'They gave us 60 armed commandos and we used to roll around in 35 SUVs. In fact, we looked like a militia.'
Besides fearing for their lives, John fell seriously ill and had to be hospitalised in Mumbai after the shoot.
The last Indian movie filmed in Afghanistan was 1982's Khuda Gawah (God's Witness). Bollywood films have always been popular in Afghanistan.
But when the Taliban took over after the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, they shut down its movie theatres and turned some of them into mosques. Surprisingly, Kabul Express is only 1 1/4 hours long and has none of the Bollywood song-and-dance staples.
Kabir, who is a documentary film-maker, said: 'Mumbai studios are looking for new stories and new ways to tell them.
'You know Hindi cinema goes to New York or London but (the plot) is not concerned with issues relating to America or London.
'Instead the film is about Indians. (Kabul Express) is....about the Afghan people.'
But the Financial Express reported that the film, which was heavily hyped around the Indian subcontinent, opened to mixed reviews. Even some Western critics weren't exactly bowled over.
Variety magazine said: 'Treating the ongoing struggles in Afghanistan with crude indecision and larky silliness, Kabul Express at once lamely revives buddy road pictures and trivialises global politics.'
source:electric news paper
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